Moonlite Bunnyranch brothel owner Dennis Hof and two of his "working girls' Brooke Taylor, left, and Airforce Amy, right, as firefighters burn down remains of the former Mustang Ranch 2 brothel east of Reno, Nevada on Sunday, March 25, 2007. Hof donated the building to the Storey County fire department for fire training. (AP Photo/Debra Reid)

Brothel lobbyist George Flint, top right, stands behind Moonlite BunnyRanch owner Dennis Hof, bottom second right, as they wait for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to speak to a joint session of the state Legislature on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 in Carson City, Nevada. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel owner Dennis Hof answers the media questions on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 at the Legislature in Carson City, Nev., following a speech from U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in which he proposed banning legal prostitution in the state. Hof and a number of his prostitutes and other brothel supporters attended the speech and called the idea "offensive." (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)

CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos on a mobile device

By MICHELLE L. PRICE

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pimp Dennis Hof, the owner of half a dozen legal brothels in Nevada and star of the HBO reality series “Cathouse,” won a Republican primary for the state Legislature on Tuesday, ousting a three-term lawmaker.

Hof defeated hospital executive James Oscarson. He’ll face Democrat Lesia Romanov in November, and will be the favored candidate in the Republican-leaning Assembly district.

Hof celebrated his win at a party in Pahrump with Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss at his side.

“It’s all because Donald Trump was the Christopher Columbus for me,” Hof told the Associated Press in a phone call. “He found the way and I jumped on it.”

Hof, who wrote a book titled “The Art of the Pimp,” has dubbed himself “The Trump of Pahrump,” and held a rally with longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. Hof was in the limelight in 2015, when former NBA player Lamar Odom was found unconscious at Hof’s Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada, after a four-day, $75,000 stay.

If Hof wins in November, he wouldn’t be the only brothel owner in elected office — Lance Gilman, the owner of the famous Mustang Ranch in northern Nevada, is a Storey County commissioner.

Voters in November will be voting on closing down brothels at least one of the seven Nevada counties where they’re legally operating. The question will be on the ballot in Lyon County, where Hof owns four brothels. Activists are also gathering signatures to try to get to get measure on the ballot in Nye County, where Hof owns two more brothels in the desert outside the city of Pahrump.

He painted the anti-brothel efforts as political retribution that’s tied to his opponent, but Oscarson and the referendum backers deny any connection.

More in Politics

A rooftop camera recorded the silver Ford Fiesta driving past Parliament and suddenly veering sharply to the left, striking cyclists waiting at a set of lights, then crossing the road and crashing into a barrier outside Parliament. Armed police surrounded the car within seconds, pulling a man from the vehicle. Police said the driver was alone and no weapons were...

Authorities in Nebraska on Tuesday morning used the powerful opioid fentanyl to carry out a death sentence, an unprecedented move that came as the state - which just three years ago briefly abolished capital punishment - completed a remarkable reversal and resumed executions for the first time in nearly a generation.